FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ESKIMOS 43 



Next to the sun, we had been looking forward to the 

 polar ice with the keenest expectation. The feeling was 

 somewhat different, for the reading of many books had 

 taught me to dread it. On the way from the river mouth 

 to Herschel Island we were in a gale when Roxy said to 

 us, "There is ice ahead." The announcement brought 

 to me almost a thrill of horror, for I had seen so many 

 paintings of ships and boats being buffeted among ice 

 floes that I thought it was something like a canoe running 

 a rapid or a ship being tossed among rocks. I soon saw, 

 however, that the Eskimos were speaking with rejoicing 

 about the ice. When I asked Roxy why that was, he 

 said there were several reasons. 



Having lived with white men on whaling ships for 

 something like twenty years, he knew what my fears 

 would be, and so he explained to me that while white 

 men dreaded the ice the Eskimos had been living among 

 it so long that they were fond of it and not happy when 

 long out of sight of it. He and his party had now been 

 several weeks up on the Mackenzie River and were be- 

 ginning to be hungry for the sight of ice. He explained 

 further that it is a great convenience when you are sail- 

 ing. If you want drinking water or water for tea, go up 

 to an ice cake and dip fresh water off the surface of it. 

 This is much less bother than going ashore, and further- 

 more the water is fresher and better. 



At first this astounded me, but I have found since 

 through long experience that it is correct. If you find an 

 ice floe so big that the spray that dashes over it in a gale 

 can not quite reach the middle, then you may be sure that 

 by going to the middle you will find a pond of .the freshest 

 of fresh water. Of course, the polar ocean is about as 

 salty as any other ocean, and just after forming the young 



